Historian Writes Op-Ed on Diversity in Schools

This month, President Obama chose John B. King, advocate for the racial integration of schools, as the next secretary of education. Historian Jonathan Zimmerman (New York University) weighed in with an op-ed in The Washington Post on the importance of this issue for American education: "Why the next education secretary will be good for diversity in schools."

Zimmerman will be participating on a panel on op-eds at the 2016 annual meeting,"Historians in the Public Sphere: Why and How We Should Write Op-Eds and Engage the Media."

Historian Awarded 2015 MacArthur Fellowship

Marina Rustow, professor of history and Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, is among the 2015 MacArthur Fellows. Chosen for "extraordinary originality and dedication to their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self- direction," fellows are awarded a grant of $625,000 to "pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations." Prof. Rustow is pursuing research into the intersection of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities in the medieval Middle East, using documents from Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue to understand how the caliphal state ruled a diverse religious population. Learn more about her work.

Historians Awarded 2014 National Humanities Medals

AHA President Vicki Ruiz, Distinguished Professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African American Studies at Harvard University, were among 10 National Humanities Medalists awarded by President Obama. The medal "honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation's understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens' engagement with history and literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans' access to cultural resources." In according this honor to long-time AHA member Prof. Ruiz and to Prof. Higginbotham, the White House recognizes the central role historians play in American public culture.

William and Mary Quarterly Prize Winners

2014 Lester J. Cappon Award

The editorial board chose Molly A. Warsh as the winner of the Lester J. Cappon Award. The award honors Warsh's "A Political Ecology in the Early Spanish Caribbean" (October) as the best article published in the journal in 2014.

The annual best-article award is named in memory of Lester J. Cappon. Lester Cappon edited the Quarterly from 1955 to 1956, and again in 1963. He was the Institute’s first editor of the book program (1945–1954) and served as Institute director from 1954 until 1969.

2014 Richard L. Morton Award

For his article "'Here is my country'": Too Né's Map of Lewis and Clark in the Great Plains" (October), Christopher Steinke has been chosen by the WMQ editorial board as the recipient of the Richard L. Morton Award for 2014.

The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture's Richard L. Morton Award recognizes a distinguished article by an author in graduate study at the time of final submission. Offered since 1986, the prize honors the founding editor of the William and Mary Quarterly's third series. Richard Morton was a respected teacher for forty years at the College of William and Mary and a leading colonial historian of his time.

AHA Member's Article in Chronicle Encourages Students to "Major in What They Love"

In "If Students Are Smart, They’ll Major in What They Love" in the Chronicle of Higher Education, AHA member Cecilia Gaposchkin advises undergraduates about the importance of choosing a major according to one's enthusiasms. What is valuable to potential employers, she notes, "is not the content of the major, but rather the ability to think with and through that information." Gaposchkin is assistant dean of faculty for premajor advising at Dartmouth College. She is also a participant in AHA's highly successful Tuning initiative, which provides resources to departments who want to help their students think about the usefulness of the history major. Participants have even been working on articulating how history majors can follow their intellectual interests without sacrificing practical imperatives.

Author Presents Book to Course on Women's History in the Latin American and the Caribbean

On April 8th, 2015, Mrs. Maria Luisa Caballero Franco, Puerto Rican author, was invited to present her book Josefa Marquesa del Pumar, with Conchita Franco Serri, co-author and editor, at Professor April Mayes history class at Pomona College: "Women of Honor, Women of Shame: Women's Lives in Colonial Latin America and the Spanish-Speaking Caribbean, 1300-1900," a course which examines the colonial period from the perspective of women's and gender history. Written in Spanish, the book contains over a hundred pages of transcribed pages of archival, primary source documents dating back two hundred years ago, a first person account of a royalist woman émigré exiled from Venezuela by Simon Bolivar. Ms. Caballero Franco’s book, just released, is available in Amazon and SquareUp. Caballero Franco, Maria Luisa, with Conchita Franco Serri. Josefa Marquesa Del Pumar. Edited by Conchita Franco Serri. 1st Ed. ed. Claremont: Santa Clara, 2015. 336. ISBN: 978-0-692-37797-0

AHA signs onto Amicus Curiae in case of Obergefell v. Beshear on Same-Sex Marriage

The Council of the American Historical Association signed onto an amicus curiae brief received from AHA member Nancy Cott (Harvard Univ.) in the case of Obergefell, et. al. v. Beshear, Gov. of Kentucky regarding whether states can prohibit same-sex marriage and are obliged to recognize marriages performed in other states.

Members Pen Op-Ed in New York Times on Electronic Records Management

AHA members Matthew Connolley (Columbia Univ.) and Richard H. Immerman (Temple Univ.) wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, released March 4, on the challenge the National Archives and Records Administration faces in processing electronic government records: "What Hillary Clinton's Emails Really Reveal."

Oklahoma AP Bill Draws Response from Historians

A bill under consideration by the Oklahoma legislature in February would have had an impact on the teaching of history at the secondary level, particularly on those who teach AP US history courses. In response to opposition, primarily from teachers, the sponsor of the bill has pulled it, pending revision.

The AHA took action in support of teachers with a statement by Jim Grossman on AHA Today. The AHA will continue to monitor the progress of this bill in Oklahoma as part of our mission to advocate on behalf of historians and history education.

Historians are speaking out on this issue. Please send us links to any public statements you make and we’ll include them.

Isn't History Meant to be a Lightning Rod? by Bob Kelly, Minarets High School, CA

History Is a Process, Not a Pile of Flashcards by AHA member Ben Keppel, University of Oklahoma

Letter to the Assembly on the Importance of the UW System

In a letter to the Wisconsin State Assembly on the importance of the UW System, Lt. Col. John W. Hall writes, "As a native Wisconsinite, I have always felt tremendous pride that our humble, decent state has created and sustained one of the world's premier institutions of higher learning and a state system that is the envy of the rest of the nation."

An AHA member since 2010, Hall is the Ambrose-Hesseltine Assistant Professor of U.S. Military History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Read the full letter on the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel: "Letter to the Assembly on the importance of the UW System."

Historian Honored for "Exceptional Work as a Teacher and Mentor"

In November 2014, Monica H. Green was awarded with the 2014 Joseph H. Hazen Education Prize, which is given annually by the History of Science Society in recognition of outstanding contributions to the teaching of history of science. The citation noted that "much of her exceptional work as a teacher and mentor takes place outside the usual structure of American academic life."